By RUSSELL JONES
Members from the Proctor Selectboard will attend the next Pittsford Selectboard meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 16 to discuss police coverage for the town of Proctor. Proctor board chairman Bruce Baccei said the board wanted to look into all the options before setting the budget.
“I ran into (Pittsford Town Manager) John Haverstock at a Vermont League of Cities and Towns meeting and he mentioned that Pittsford provides coverage for Chittenden, which I didn’t know,” Baccei said. “We haven’t really discussed what we would want or expect from them, we’re just kind of looking into what options are out there.”
Proctor currently receives police coverage from the Rutland County Sherriff’s Department. In 2018, the Sherriff’s Department conducted 467 traffic stops, responded to 245 incidents and made 13 arrests, according to the town’s annual report. They also wrote over $45,000 in traffic tickets.
Two months ago, the Proctor board agreed to renew the contract with the Rutland sheriffs, which expires in June of 2020.
Pittsford began providing coverage for Chittenden this past July. From July to November they conducted 66 traffic stops in Chittenden. Pittsford police patrols there encompass early morning and evening hours to curb some behavior of drivers in the area but will only respond when scheduled to be in town and will not answer calls outside of those times, according to the Chittenden annual report.Two Proctor board members, Tom Hogan and Carrie Dougherty, will meet with the Pittsford board and discuss what options may be open to them in regards to policing next year. No other notable business was discussed at the meeting.
